Book review: Frozen Grave by Lee Weeks

Pam Norfolk

As winter takes a hold, here’s a chilly thriller to keep you gripped to your cosy armchair.

There’s a serial killer on the prowl… he has a list of women’s names and he’s crossing them off one by one.

Lee Weeks, author of Dead of Winter and Cold as Ice, makes a welcome return with her ill-assorted detective duo, brash DI Dan Carter and his more circumspect DC Ebony Willis, who have their work cut out to find a violent and elusive murderer.

Olivia Grantham is a junior partner in a thriving law firm and the last person one would expect to have been dressed in a sexy and provocative outfit for an assignation at a dilapidated warehouse in Woolwich, London.

When the 40-year-old is found brutally murdered in the crumbling building, Carter and Willis start making enquiries at the nearby rundown Hannover Estate where gangs rule the streets and homelessness and hopelessness go hand in hand.

The two detectives are convinced that the answers to the killing lie in the secretive lifestyle of Olivia, a loner with few friends.

Then another woman, Gillian Forth, is burned to death at her home in Exeter. She was alone but all the signs point to murder. At first, there seems to be no link between the two deaths but Carter and Willis become convinced that they were killed by the same person.

And when a third body is found, the race is on to find the vital connection between the victims before another woman is hunted down.

Weeks is a perceptive writer… original plotting and deft characterisation, coupled with atmospheric locations and superb police procedural, have become her stock in trade.

Frozen Grave is a suspense-packed, fast-moving thriller set in the tough back streets of London’s East End where gang culture and homelessness are a part of everyday life.

But this is also a story that asks questions about the plight of those on the margins of society and the ruthless individuals who prey on poverty, drug addiction and misery.

A gritty page-turner with a caring heart…

(Simon & Schuster, paperback, £7.99)

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